[nycindie]

Originally Posted by RitaFire

Interesting....can you explain that more? When I think of supplements, I think of something that we need because we are missing it. It is something that needs to be added because we are lacking in it.

As a college student, quite often I have had textbooks that also came with a supplementary "workbook" volume. Usually, the textbook is all that's required to meet the goals of the course. The supplement is often optional and simply gives the student more opportunity to work on specific exercises, and grasp certain concepts from another perspective. It's not that the main textbook is lacking, but that the supplementary volume rounds out our studies or gives us different ways to think about the topic. Our learning is increased.

So, to correlate, to say that an additional relationship is "supplementary," one could mean that it is like that workbook. It augments (ie., intensifies, grows, enlarges) the totality of the person in relationship with him or her, but does not signify a lack, necessarily, in any other relationships with which one is involved. Like another viewpoint or perspective; it is just another path to the heart. A supplementary relationship can fulfill the same needs, or different needs, as a primary or established relationship, but in a way that just offers another viewpoint, experience, etc. and rounds out the person in often unexpected ways.

So... basically, as I see it, allowing in love from multiple partners potentially enriches one's life, but need not be a replacement or at the expense of any of the other partners.